£50M long-term vehicle engineering support contract awarded by UK MOD

BAE Systems' vehicles business in the UK has been awarded a £50M five-year contract by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to provide engineering support for the British Army’s armoured vehicle fleet

The work will help protect the capabilities of the British Army now and into the future. The contract, which sustains around 100 jobs at Telford, Shropshire and other UK sites, commenced on 1 January 2015 and covers a wide range of armoured vehicles in the fleet, including light, medium and heavy armoured vehicles.

The innovative contracting arrangement merges existing support contracts into a more efficient and effective agreement. Under its terms, BAE Systems - which maintains design authority - will continue to provide support to Warrior; Titan; Trojan; Panther; Bulldog; Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked); the Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle (CVR(T)) as well as the main battle tank of the British Army - Challenger 2. The Company's unique engineering expertise in the upgrade and support of complex military vehicles is unparalleled in the UK with engineers holding specialist knowledge, skills and capabilities in areas such as survivability, combat engineering, vetronics (vehicle electronics) and product safety. The work will be carried out predominantly in Telford, Shropshire, with engineers from Newcastle and Filton, Bristol supporting the heavy armoured vehicles and Panther respectively. Trials work will take place at MOD test sites such as Bovington in Dorset.

David Bond, Managing Director for BAE Systems Combat Vehicles (UK) said: “BAE Systems is proud to support the armoured fighting capability of the British Army. As the design authority for over 85% of the British Army’s in-service armoured vehicle fleet, this innovative long-term contract offers the Company and the MOD a new partnering approach to vehicle support.”

The contract award was announced today by Philip Dunne MP, Minister for Defence, Equipment, Support and Technology at a Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) event hosted by BAE Systems site at its Telford site. He commented: "This contract helps ensure that we sustain a battle-winning Armoured Vehicle Fleet and represents an important investment in armoured vehicles capability within the UK defence supply chain that safeguards UK engineering jobs.

"It is also essential that we deliver high-quality equipment and services at the best possible value for the taxpayer and are able to meet any future capability challenges."

As the original designer and manufacturer of the vehicles named in the contract and with experience of more than 200 urgent operational requirement upgrades, BAE Systems is well positioned to ensure the vehicles continue to perform to the high specification required by the British Army. With a unique understanding of the UK's vehicles, this contract award will ensure that BAE Systems’ vehicle business continues to invest in new technologies, facilities and people and is in the best position to win future defence contracts that will deliver benefits for the MOD and the British Army.

BAE Systems Combat Vehicles (UK) employs more than 450 personnel in the UK and has consolidated its activities at Telford where it employs 292 personnel. The Company has also established a new engineering facility at Newcastle, in addition to maintaining its existing support office at Filton, Bristol and field support representation at Bovington and other customer locations.

Notes to Editors

At the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) event, hosted at by BAE Systems at their Telford site, more than 50 representatives from over 25 different motorsport companies showcased their technologies to BAE Systems engineers with the aim of applying innovations from the motorsport industry into current and future armoured fighting vehicles for the British Army.

BAE Systems has a long standing relationship with the MIA, having hosted the first motorsport to defence event at Telford in 2008. As a result of this partnership, two examples where BAE Systems has worked closely with MIA members include environmental mitigation improvement programme for fleet of CVR(T) vehicles and fire suppression systems on the operational fleet of Warrior infantry fighting vehicles.

BAE Systems employs 292 personnel at Telford and this year will recruit six apprentices for the engineering and operations disciplines. In total BAE Systems is recruiting more than 700 apprentices across its UK business in 2015.

Following investment at the site and the consolidation of the capabilities and assets of five legacy locations, a new £1M office facility opened in January 2015 for around 120 employees. There are plans for further developments.

Activities on the Telford site include: repair capability for the heavy armour fleet; aluminium fabrication and machining; training; fighting vehicle sub-assembly repairs; future concepts development with use of 3D Visualisation Dome and specialised test equipment and vehicle testing on a 1.6km test track. Also on site are the business’s engineering, project management, operations, business development, finance, human resources, commercial and procurement functions.